Google is searching for longer life, announcing on Wednesday the formation of a health company focused on aging and associated diseases.

Arthur Levinson, the former chief executive officer and current chairman of biotechnology giant Genentech, will lead the new venture, known as Calico.

The launch of an independent company represents an unusual tack for Google, which typically fosters out-there ideas through its secretive Google X division or invests in promising startups through Google Ventures. But the ambitiousness of the project is in line with the thinking of co-founder and CEO Larry Page, who has taken a series of bold steps since returning to the helm in the spring of 2011.

Google earns most of its money from the ads that pop up alongside search results, but it's working on driverless cars, Internet-connected glasses, and stratospheric balloons that could help get more of the developing world online.

"Illness and aging affect all our families," Page said in a statement. "With some longer-term, moon-shot thinking around health care and biotechnology, I believe we can improve millions of lives."

Effect, not cause

Slowing the aging process promises considerable bang for the buck, because many illnesses appear to be the effect, not cause, of getting older, including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's and various forms of cancer.

Time magazine published a cover story on the new venture Wednesday, featuring a wide-ranging interview with Page. But ultimately neither he nor Google revealed detailed plans, such as the intended avenues of research or where the company would be located. Google didn't respond to an inquiry from The Chronicle.

Personal motivation?

There may be some personal motivation at play in these efforts. All of us age, of course, but Google co-founders Page and Sergey Brin both face specific health issues. Page suffers from vocal cord nerve damage that has left him speaking faintly. And Brin has a genetic mutation that may leave him more susceptible to developing Parkinson's disease.

Google has dipped a toe into the health field before, bringing data to bear on various problems through initiatives like Google Flu Trends and investments in companies like 23andMe (co-founded by Brin's wife, Anne Wojcicki, from whom he is separated), which does genetic testing.

Indeed, much of medical research today relies on advances in information technology that allow scientists to derive insights from vast sets of data - and it's a good guess that Calico will embrace such tools as well.

Data sets

As Time reported: "Google is very, very good with large data sets. While the company is holding its cards about Calico close to the vest, expect it to use its core data-handling skills to shed new light on familiar age-related maladies. Sources close to the project suggest it will start small and focus entirely on researching new technologies."

The mere fact that Google is stepping into this space doesn't mean it will achieve any breakthroughs. As with most medical research, advances will require considerable time and money, if they come at all. It's notable that there haven't been any runaway successes in efforts to reverse the aging process.

But there has certainly been progress, Kennedy said. Drugs have been shown to slow the aging process in mice, including rapamycin, which is already approved for other uses in humans.

Telomeres research

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Blackburn of UCSF shared the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2009 for work on telomeres, a kind of protective cap on the end of chromosomes that shrink as people age, and the enzyme known as telomerase that replenishes their length. She and other researchers formed Telome Health of Menlo Park in 2010 to develop and sell telomere testing products.

Other scientists have focused on the role of protein misfolding and DNA mutations in aging, but increasingly it appears that the process is a complicated one involving all of these factors and more.

New resources

The key thing holding up additional advances is a lack of resources, so Kennedy said he welcomes the entrance of Google and its immensely deep pockets. "We're all speculating as to what they're going to do, but it's very exciting for the field," he said.

Levinson, who will also keep his position as chairman of Apple, shared more about how the venture came about in a public Google+ post.

"We agreed that with great people, a strong culture and vision and a healthy disregard for the impossible, we could make progress tackling these questions and improving people's lives," he said.

Levinson added that Calico is officially an abbreviation for the "California Life Co."

"But if you're thinking about cats, we like the old saying that they have nine lives," he said.